Goodnight, Sweet Prince

So I haven't been on the internet all day long. I'm sitting in the middle of Deadrick Street eating food truck Thursday when my friend looks at me and says, "Dude. Brace yourself. Prince is dead." I sat stunned. "You mean the musician, or an actual prince?" "The musician."

We sat in silence for the next couple minutes. "Damn" I said. "Yeah" she said. "Wow." "Yeah."

By the time we got back to the apartment I was afraid of expressing my sadness on the internet-what he meant to me as the strange girl who never seemed to fit in her small town. How he wore his strangeness all on the outside, how he wrote amazingly beautiful songs, and weird songs and dirty songs. Seeing strong, sexy females in his band and on his stage. How his music ran the gamut from R&B to blues to punk to pop. How even his Batman theme song was cool as shit even though the movie was questionable at best. Seeing this crazy, weird, wonderful wild androgynous man in heels and velvet suits in videos on this new "MTV" thing. Hearing his emotion in every song and watching him give it all when I got to see him in concert twice. Watching him combine all the outrageousness of James Brown with the showmanship of Michael Jackson and the wardrobe of a Jane Austen novel. Punk. As. Fuck.

Then I get home and see that everyone I know is mourning publicly for this amazingly talented man. I don't care who he was in real life, what his hangups were, or anything else. He was Prince. He changed so many things for my generation. Thank you, sir, for so many memories. And for making all of us weirdos feel a little less weird.

So much awesome.

So this happened last night.

Yep, I got to meet my long-time crush Billy Bob Thornton after a concert at the Franklin Theatre. What a great venue they have created for that place–we sat about 25 feet from the stage. After, the Boxmasters held a signing and I actually got to shake his hand and have a real 5 minute conversation with the man himself.

He was so gracious with his time. If he's not genuine then he's a better actor than I thought. (beaversandducks!)

As an aside, Mr. Thornton, this is the video trailer I told you about last night. I know someone who would love for you to be involved in this project!
Her documentary is called Raised in the South of Normal and is something I am definitely looking forward to seeing!



Anyway, this theater has been around for years. My family lived in Williamson County for most of my childhood and any movie that I saw, I saw in this theater. I saw Benji there when I was about 11 or so and I cried so hard my mom had to take me out and calm me down.

In the late 90s I went there for foreign films, and one ill fated trip to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show. (Long story short we didn't KNOW they didn't want you to throw rice. Oops.) They tried to revive it as a venue space, added food to the menu, and a lot of other things.

This current redesign debuted in 2011 and has been met with much success by all accounts. I have attended several music shows there, as well as movies. The building is now a beautiful venue used as a very intimate setting for movies, music and theater. They have a bar in addition to the concession stand in the lobby and still retain the original charm of the building (like the balcony and theater seating) in addition to the modern upgrades (like bigger restrooms and cabaret style seating in the front).

My hometown in Kentucky has a theater left from the 20's and it is a beautiful space. A few years ago a resident put millions of dollars into restoring it to its former glory. However, no one has ever quite been able to grasp the concept of making it a multi-purpose venue. Since it was deeded over to the local Industrial Authority (because who is more creative than businessmen....not), it sits around empty most of the year and serves as a site for wedding receptions occasionally. Hopefully one day they will see the light, much as the folks did in Franklin, TN with this theater.

When it comes to live music I can't think of a better place to see a show. And we saw Budapest Hotel here a couple of years ago as a new release, majestic on the big screen. If you don't know about the Franklin Theater, check it out on their site at franklintheatre.com